Valentine A. Brown is a partner at Duane Morris LLP in the Employment, Labor, Benefits and Immigration Practice Group and is the Firm's Pro Bono Counsel. She serves as global immigration law counsel to a diverse group of multi-national and domestic corporations and their employees, providing advice, compliance audits and representation to help navigate the intricacies of US and foreign immigration laws. Ms. Brown also represents individuals in all types of immigration proceedings, including persons of extraordinary ability; spouses, fiancées and children of US citizens; naturalization and political asylum applicants; as well as respondents in deportation and immigration appellate proceedings. She is also a member of the firm's Cuba Business Group.

Ms. Brown is an instructor for the Duane Morris Institute, which provides training in all areas of employment law for human resource professionals, in house counsel, benefits administrators and managers through classes in Philadelphia, client-site trainings and webinars. Ms. Brown's courses include, I-9 Compliance Basics; E-Verify for Everyone; E-Verify for Federal Contractors, Electronic I-9s: The Pros, the Cons and the Requirements; and H-1B Public Access Files: What Employers Need to Know.

Ms. Brown is a former law clerk to the Honorable John. J. Gossart, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Baltimore, Maryland, a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law and a graduate of the University of Delaware. She is fluent in Spanish.

Immigration Litigation: Representation of corporations in I-9 and immigration-related discrimination enforcement actions; representation of individuals in removal proceedings before the EOIR, BIA and federal courts of appeals.

Representative Matters

Obtained through the Immigration IMPACT pro bono project lawful permanent residency for a domestic violence survivor, originally from Haiti, under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

Reviewed I-9 Forms, employment eligibility policies and compliance as well as identified potential I-9 liabilities for Brace Industrial Group LP., a Houston-based industrial services roll-up, in its acquisition of Basic Industries, LLC, an industrial services company, for approximately $33 million.

Counsel to Philadelphia-area restaurant chain during ongoing I-9 audit and investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Counsel to Fortune 500 multinational corporation for all immigration matters, including outbound and inbound visas, immigration compliance, and training.

Counsel to electric utility for all temporary and permanent visa matters, immigration compliance, and training.

Counsel to hospital seeking H-1B visa for non-ECFMG physician. Proved that physician was of international acclaim and obtained approval of visa.

Leia v. Ashcroft, 393 F.3d 427 (3d Cir. 2005)—Lead trial and appellate counsel on behalf of Ukrainian national seeking political asylum in the United States on the basis of persecution due to ethnicity and political opinion. Secured ultimate approval of asylum application after the Third Circuit held that the decisions of the immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals were contrary to law.

Counsel to U.S. citizen in visa-revocation proceedings for spouse. Obtained reinstatement of immigrant visa petition (I-130) and subsequent approval of visa issuance by U.S. consulate abroad.

Counsel to university for all immigration matters, including H-1B and TN visas, labor certifications and green cards. Resolved complex and difficult issues.

Counsel to Philadelphia painting atelier in application for recognition by U.S. government as designated entity for issuance of M-1 student visas. Prosecuted application, resulting in foreign students now being admitted for study.

Counsel to professional pianist in early stages of her career. Demonstrated extraordinary ability and obtained approval of change to legal permanent residence from F-1 student visa.

Counsel to a company in an I-9 audit by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Federal Contract Compliance. Advised on self-audit procedures to avoid liability.

Un v. Gonzales, 415 F.3d 205, 210–11 (1st Cir. 2005)—Lead appellate counsel on behalf of Cambodian national seeking political asylum on the basis of persecution due to imputed political opinion. Secured remand of asylum proceedings to the immigration judge on the basis of errors at the initial trial.

Counsel to multinational information technology company with offices in Wayne, Pa., and Hyderabad, India, for all immigration matters, including L-1, H-1B and E visas; permanent residence; and complex immigration issues.

Counsel to U.S. citizen and spouse who was legal permanent resident in green-card rescission proceedings. Argued procedural defects in rescission notice and obtained termination of the proceedings.

Obtained United States citizenship on behalf of a 67-year-old Liberian client who came to the United States after living in a Refugee Camp in the Republic of Guinea for more than a decade as a result of the Second Liberian Civil War.

Represented a pro bono client in obtaining a Violence Against Women Act green card and navigating the naturalization process to become a United States citizen.

Speaker, AILA Philadelphia Chapter, "Falling out of Love: Representing Conditional Residents When Life Doesn't Go as Planned, and Other I-751 Oddities," March 12, 2010

Panelist, AILA Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2005

Panelist, Pennsylvania Bar Institute Immigration Update, 2002-2006

Panelist, AILA Philadelphia Chapter Conferences, 2000-2006

Panelist, Gloucester County Bar Association, 2005, 2007

Panelist, AILA Midyear Conference, Cancun, Mexico, 2003

Panelist, AILA Basics Conference, Boston, 2000

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